Barack Obama By: Matthew Dunn AFAS 160

Early Life Born on August 4 th, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii His father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas

Education Spent two years at Occidental College (CA) before transferring Graduated from Columbia University in 1983 – Majored in Political Science with a specialty in International Relations Graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 – Elected first African-American President of the Harvard Law Review

Literary Works Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995) The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006) Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (2010)

Political Career Elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 Elected to U.S. Senate in 2004 Elected 44 th President of the United States in 2008, and reelected in 2012 – First African-American President

Key Political Moves Signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010 Ended the war in Iraq – Currently working on ending the war in Afghanistan Cut taxes for working Americans, putting an average of $3,600 back in their pockets – BarackObama.com

A More Perfect Union Delivered on March 18, 2008, at Constitution Hall in Philadelphia “We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.” “Stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery”

A More Perfect Union “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners — an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”

A More Perfect Union “Some commentators have deemed me either ‘too black’ or ‘not black enough.’” – Speaks to the racial tension he experienced when running for President Reverend Jeremiah Wright – “I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy.” – Not every experience with Wright was bad though

A More Perfect Union “Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” – Something Obama had learned as a result of running for President White and Black Resentments – Whites are angry because Blacks have an opportunity to receive some advantages – Blacks are angry because some are still waiting to receive an opportunity

A More Perfect Union “But I have asserted a firm conviction — a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people — that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.”

Works Cited The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Third Edition, Volume 2